It appears Celtic are pursuing a new striker.
Brendan Rodgers lost Kyogo Furuhashi to Stade Rennais in January for a fee of £10m, and he failed to replace the Japanese forward for the rest of last season.
This summer, the Celtic boss has added Callum Osmand to his central attacking options, while Shin Yamada is on his way to Parkhead.
They will join Adam Idah in that position, but Rodgers wants one more. And it seems he is after Romanian hotshot Louis Munteanu.
Celtic have seen a £6.9m bid for Munteanu rejected by CFR Cluj, and his agent claims around £8.6m could be enough to land the striker.
However, Cluj owner Neluțu Varga has made it clear that he will not look to sell Munteanu for anything less than €18m, which is just over £15.5m.
So who is Munteanu? 67 Hail Hail gives you a rundown of his career so far and why Celtic are interested in signing him.
Munteanu’s early days in Romania
Munteanu was born on June 16, 2002 in the town of Vaslui, Romania. He came through the youth system at LPS Vaslui before moving to the Gheorghe Hagi Football Academy.
The GHF Academy served as the academy for FC Viitorul Constanța, who Munteanu made his senior debut for October 2019.
He scored three league goals in 19 games across his first season for the club, and that attracted the attention of Serie A side Fiorentina.
Fiorentina followed by FCV Farul Constanța loans
Fiorentina paid around €2m for Munteanu, but put him straight into their academy set-up to develop his game further. During his two seasons with the U20 team, he scored 13 goals in 40 appearances.
Viitorul Constanța merged with another club to become FCV Farul Constanța in the summer of 2021, and it was there where Munteanu would be loaned out to in 2022.
Across the 2022/23 campaign, Munteanu was instrumental to Farul’s league title success. He scored 10 goals in 29 games to win the Liga I crown by seven points.
Farul managed to secure Munteanu on loan for a further season and his form in front of goal was similar, netting 12 times in 36 games.
Big breakthrough with CFR Cluj
Just €2m was enough for Cluj to prise Munteanu away from Farul in the summer of 2024, fighting off competition from FCSB and Rapid Bucuresti.
Still only 22, it’s safe to say Munteanu was by far and away the best player in Liga I last season. He blasted in 25 goals in 42 games for Cluj, which included two hat-tricks.
With 23 top-flight strikes last season, it was the first time a Cluj player had netted that number of goals since the 1973/74 season.
Munteanu deservedly won the LPF Young Player of the Season award and that’s exactly why Celtic want to sign him this summer.
Style of play and qualities
Munteanu plays primarily as a central striker, but can also be deployed as a winger. As well as his clear goalscoring prowess, the Romanian has good technical ability and is able to link up play.
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